Archive for the ‘Karl Ludvigsen’ tag

The Society of Automotive Engineers has its annual World Congress in Detroit every spring (well, at least the calender says it’s spring). One of the many nice things about the SAE is that the organization takes the history of automotive engineering seriously. The Society has a Mobility History Committee for just that purpose. At each Congress the SAE Mobility History Committee has a display of historic automotive artifacts and presents a series of talks on automotive history. In recent years, they’ve had century-old electric cars, like the 1916 Detroit Electric owned by EV enthusiast Jack Beatty, or Mrs. Henry Joy‘s own Detroit Electric. This year’s congress had the theme of “Achieving Efficiency,” so it was appropriate that the history committee invited respected author Karl Ludvigsen to talk about Lotus founder Colin Chapman, a man known for the aphorism “simplicate and add lightness.” In conjunction, they also had a race-prepped 1960 Lotus Elite, Chapman’s first production street car, on display at Cobo Hall.

Ludvigsen has written almost 50 books on cars, marques, drivers and automotive technology. Many of them will be used as standard references for decades to come. In 2010, Haynes published Ludvigsen’s Colin Chapman: Inside the Innovator, a look at the manifold ways in which Chapman, his original ideas and those of others that he embraced and championed, influenced racing in particular and the world of cars in general. Ludvigsen first met Chapman in the paddock at Monza just before the 1958 Italian Grand Prix. He knew the man and his associates personally, and with Ludvigsen’s training in mechanical engineering and industrial design – as well as his work within the industry for GM, Fiat and Ford of Europe – he’s well suited for an honest assessment of Chapman and his work. It should be noted that Ludvigsen does not shy away from discussing Chapman’s less admirable character traits like his questionable business ethics and what some have said was a lack of regard for his racing drivers’ safety. Ludvigsen related a dinner conversation he’d had with John DeLorean. Lotus had been brought in to do most of the engineering on the production De Lorean DMC-12, essentially a rear-engined Esprit with a French V-6 and stainless steel skin. At the time, Chapman had proposed to DeLorean that they merge their companies. DeLorean told Ludvigsen that he had his lawyers and accountants perform some due diligence and they reported that if what they discovered became public knowledge Chapman would have “gone to jail immediately.”

Inside the Innovator is almost 400 pages long and delves into, as I said, the many areas of technology where Chapman was a pioneer. That won’t all fit in a 40-minute lecture, so Ludvigsen kept his remarks mostly to how Colin Chapman embraced aerodynamics and thereby changed racing forever. Woven into his presentation is how much Lotus’s efforts at the Indianapolis 500, where it won with Jim Clark in 1965, influenced the development of its aerodynamic Formula One cars.

While developing its Indy cars, Lotus and Ford (which powered Lotus’s Indy cars) experimented with what had to have been one of the earliest uses of data sensors on a race car’s suspension. They were looking to see how much the centrifugal force on the car caused by the track’s banking forced the car to settle down onto the suspension. They were surprised to find out that wasn’t happening, the car never lowered. On the contrary, the body was acting like a wing and generating lift.

Thus began a journey that started with wedge-shaped race cars, high-mounted wings that would get banned due to flimsy construction, front- and rear-mounted multi-element wings, and eventually the discovery of ground effects with downforce-generating side pods. Ludvigsen also discussed some of Chapman’s ideas that never got off the ground, so to speak, like a car with solid axles and de Dion suspension front and rear, or ideas that worked so well (or could have if they were allowed to be developed) that they were banned, like the twin-chassis Lotus 88. Another pioneer in the use of aerodynamics and downforce, Jim Hall of Chaparral fame, had similar experiences with sanctioning bodies banning his innovations.

As noted, Ludvigsen didn’t confine his remarks to technology. In response to a question, he stressed the important role that Hazel, Mrs. Chapman, had in her husband’s life and career. He also taught a little bit of linguistic history, giving the background of both “simplicate and add lightness” (a phrase that Ludvigsen traces back, interestingly enough, to Detroit and a student of engineer and aircraft designer William Stout), and the Lotus brand name. You’ll have to watch the videos after the jump to find out the answer to that particular mystery.

Karl Ludvigsen, the world-regarded automotive archivist and historian, has long claimed status as the most prolific author of works on Porsche. His latest title, Porsche: Origin of Species, was recently presented with the Dean Batchelor Award by the Motor Press Guild. Those wanting to congratulate him or simply soak up his wisdom would do well to make their way to the AACA Museum for a special night with Karl on April 19.

The evening will precede the Central Pennsylvania Porsche Swap Meet that begins in Hershey the following day and is part of the AACA’s current celebration of all things Porsche. Tickets for the Ludvigsen event have a pre-sale price of $75 per person through the end of this month.

Karl Ludvigsen, longtime automotive author, researcher, and contributor to Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car, obviously knows a thing or two about writing a good book, whatever the topic may be. That fact was hammered home earlier this week when he won the Dean Batchelor Award, the highest honor in automotive journalism, for his book Porsche: Origin of the Species.

As noted in Jim Donnelly’s review of the book in the February 2013 issue of Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car, Ludvigsen took a rather uncommon approach to this book. Rather than write about the history of the entire marque, or even of a particular model, Ludvigsen devoted 356 pages – and 450 illustrations, including photography by Michael Furman – to one car: Porsche 356, serial number 356/2-040, a Gmund coupe built in 1951 and now owned by Jerry Seinfeld. Though concerned with that one car, Ludvigsen ranges broadly in the book, touching on all the events that led Ferdinand Porsche to establish his eponymous sports-car company.

Nominated in the Motor Press Guild’s Best Book category for 2012, Ludvigsen’s Porsche book competed with In the Red by Jade Gurss and The Stainless Steel Carrot: An Auto Racing Odessey – Revisited By Sylvia Wilkinson to win its category and then with the winner of the Best Audio/Visual category (Micah Muzio and Michael Delano’s KBB Races a Mazda Miata for Kelly Blue Book) and the winner of the Best Article category (The World’s Fastest Hot Rod By Greg Sharp, which appeared in The Rodder’s Journal, Spring 2012 issue) to take the Dean Batchelor Award, presented Tuesday night at the Motor Press Guild banquet in Los Angeles. Also honored that night was Thomas L. Bryant, editor emeritus of Road & Track, who received the guild’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

For a long time, this has been considered the definitive book on the Ford GT40. It was first published in January 1970, then reprinted one year later. In the ensuing years, several more books on the GT40 have been published, but few, regardless of their page length, pack the same amount of hard-core production information as this book does.

Just 80 pages in length, and all black and white except for the 14 press-release color photos which are now commonplace, the information within is as in-depth as one could ever find on this great sports car. And we do mean in-depth – like its sub-title says: “The Design and Development of the Ford GT Racing Cars.” Those words alone should tell you that there’s serious information here, more so than the usual – and fairly useless – coffee table book fluff stuff. Then again, being filled with hard-core information that true enthusiasts want to read about is the hallmark of any book written by Karl Ludvigsen.

Detailed accounts describing how the car was developed and tested are so interesting you’ll have a hard time putting it down until you’re finished reading it. For those who want to know how the GT40 was designed and fabricated, all that information is here too, accompanied by original illustrations and drawings, photos of the parts being developed, the cars being assembled and then tested in the wind tunnel. One chart details the changes made to each competition GT40 – MK II and MK IV – and how those changes affected its top speed and drag.

From the used books specialists, Alibris, expect to pay about $50 to $60 for a used copy that’s in really good condition, while on Amazon the going rate seems to be between $70 and $75. Regardless what you pay, if you like Ford GT40s, then this is a worthwhile book that should be in your library. It really is a fascinating read.

The Ludvigsen Library, the vast collection amassed by award-winning automotive historian, researcher and author (and longtime Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car contributor) Karl Ludvigsen, has been acquired by the Collier Collection. Managed by the not-for-profit Revs Institute for Automotive Research of Naples, Florida, the Collier Collection is one of the world’s foremost automotive museums, with its more than 100 vehicles and more than 1 million books, documents and images.

The Ludvigsen Library materials, including the incomparable photographic collection he began 60 years ago with a visit to Watkins Glen, will be made available to scholars, historians, media, authors, institutions, businesses and academia. “Although already substantial, the Revs [Institute] resources will be immeasurably enhanced by the purchase of the archive of Karl Ludvigsen, the diligence and excellence of whose work is widely recognized throughout the world,” said Miles Collier, principal of the Collier Collection, in an announcement of the acquisition.

Ludvigsen has not completely cleaned out his bookshelves or retired from writing. He informs us that he’s kept his aviation, aerospace, military and history library, which he intends to use for future projects. And he’s kept materials he needs for several upcoming automotive projects, including his history of forced induction, an updating of his classic Corvette: America’s Star-Spangled Sports Car, and a return to a favorite subject, Porsche, with two volumes on the wartime activities of Ferdinand Porsche.

The full text of the Revs Institute announcement appears after the jump.

The small-block Chevrolet V-8 engine’s long march to ubiquity involved not only its longetivity in production, its inherent qualities and the aftermarket support that followed, but its acceptance and use in all sorts of cars not built by the bowtie division. In these two articles from SIA #27, March-April 1975, Karl Ludvigsen examines the use of the Chevrolet small-block in various historic race cars as well as its use in various historic production cars, revealing quite the variety of exotics powered by perhaps the most universal and mundane engine ever built.

The Glenmoor Gathering of Significant Automobiles is set for September 12-14

If you’ve never attended the Glenmoor Gathering of Significant Automobiles, then this is the year that you really must go and see what all the excitement is about. Now considered to be one of the top five must-attend concours in the country, it’s the incredible selection of highly interesting automobiles that have made this concours so special. From one-off prototypes and coachbuilt Classics to rarely seen competition sports racers from Europe to incredibly restored production station wagons and tire-shredding muscle cars, this event honors them all.

Former head of General Motors design Wayne Cherry will be acting as grand marshal, and a special display honoring General Motors’ Centennial will feature some very significant GM cars and trucks. There will also be a special tribute to the Model T Ford to celebrate its 100th birthday, too. And a most interesting display of rare pre-production factory-built Porsche prototypes will be a must-see exhibit for every sports car and Porsche enthusiast. In fact, world renowned historian Karl Ludvigsen will be there signing copies of his new book, Porsche: Genesis of Genius.

This three-day automotive spectacular takes place on September 12-14 on the beautiful grounds of the historic Glenmoor Country Club, just outside of Canton, Ohio. The concours takes place on Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, visit: www.glenmoorgathering.com.

(This post originally appeared in the July 10, 2008, issue of the Hemmings eWeekly Newsletter.)

More than a year ago, we showed a photo in Hemmings Classic Car’s Lost and Found (June 2007) of a Studebaker Lark fitted with a 1953 Porsche engine and drivetrain under the decklid. We didn’t receive much additional information on the experimental car, but such a South Bend-Stuttgart mashup was not without precedent, as Karl Ludvigsen outlined in SIA #24, September-October 1974. Studebaker’s first involvement with Porsche came earlier in the 1950s, in an earlier attempt to build a compact car. Porsche’s engineers came up with several designs and even whipped up a prototype car and a pair of prototype engines. The exact connection between that prototype and the later experimental car, however, remains unknown.